Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is set to unveil its latest Grok 3 chatbot at 8:00 PM Pacific Time on February 17. Musk has described this new product as "the smartest AI on Earth," a statement made against the backdrop of intensifying global competition in large AI models.
Grok 3's standout feature is its implementation of "chain-of-thought" reasoning capabilities, enabling the bot to tackle complex tasks step by step in a manner akin to human cognition. This significantly enhances the model's ability to handle intricate queries and deliver coherent, logical responses. Additionally, Grok 3 boasts notable improvements in multimodal functions such as reasoning, programming, text analysis, and image interpretation.
It is reported that the Grok series models have been integrated into Musk's social media platform X, where users can experience the Grok chatbot. Previously, Grok 2, launched in August 2024, was primarily used for training AI chatbots. Compared to the original Grok 1 released in November 2023, Grok 2 featured improved training data with the inclusion of small amounts of high-quality real-world data to enhance the model's performance in real-life scenarios.
Amid growing cost pressures in the global AI large model race, xAI faces strong challenges from competitors. For instance, OpenAI recently announced that the intelligence level of GPT 4o would be upgraded to o3 pro, accompanied by new strategic deployments aimed at simplifying user experiences. In contrast, the release of Grok 3 came later than Musk's initial expectations, originally scheduled for the end of 2024.
Meanwhile, xAI is negotiating with Dell for server purchases, with expected transaction values exceeding $5 billion. These servers will be equipped with Nvidia's next-generation GB200 GPUs, reflecting the escalating competition in computational power investments for large model development. To support this, xAI is raising approximately $10 billion in a new round of financing to acquire more GPUs and boost its valuation.
Despite active fundraising efforts, xAI's valuation remains significantly lower than that of OpenAI. According to available data, xAI is currently valued at around $51 billion, while OpenAI stands at an impressive $150 billion and is seeking further funding that could push its valuation beyond $300 billion.
